Human Anatomy at Colby

This Jan plan course was an extremely condensed one, with a great deal of material being hurled at us each day. However, because of the way the class was structured and Dr. Klepach’s attention to how we were living and managing our stress it was not nearly as daunting as I had previously envisioned.The highlight of the class for me personally was the trip to inland hospital. I thought it was extremely valuable to see a functioning hospital and the people who worked there. We were able to get a peak into the life of a practicing doctor, and how their daily lives operate.

Another valuable experience was our presentations of the Grand Rounds projects to the doctors and the class as a whole. I loved working on my project and being able to really dive into a specific case and the way it was treated. The project gave insight into the difficulty of obtaining a diagnosis, and what a collaborative process it is.

When I decided to take this Anatomy and Physiology Jan Plan, I heard about how rigorous and accelerated the course was and I wanted to not only challenge myself with the material, but to get into a study routine that would lead me into a smooth transition for my Spring semester. That was the plan. I didn’t realize that this class had much more to offer than a study habit.

On our first day, Dr. Klepach talked about what he wanted his students to get out of his class. His goal was to help us lead a healthy lifestyle. To do this, each student was required to keep a lifestyle log. At first I didn’t quite understand why it was so important to keep track my stress levels, my sleep, and my meals, and looking back at my log sheet, I did quite poorly with my sleep and meals. Especially for the first week and a half of class, I would stay up reviewing, and stay up even later the night before a lab practical or quiz. I realized, through our professor, that this was a way for us to practice high intensity work but maintaining a low level of stress. Although I struggled with the task, filling out my lifestyle log made think more about what career I wanted to have. I really do want to continue on to medical school to become a pediatrician.  And to do that, I will continue practicing and a healthy lifestyle.

Throughout the month we covered so much material. I felt like I was being overloaded with information that I couldn’t possibly remember. I loved it. I liked learning the anatomy, the mechanisms that the anatomy is in charge of, how they do it, and then relating it to physiology and case studies. Although it was a lot, I felt a relieved that I was not only learning so much, but enjoying it. This course reassured my interests in the medical field.

I remember on the last day class,  I was feeling really nervous for our Grand Rounds since my group made some big changes to our presentation the night before. The week had already been pretty stressful, and presenting was the only thing I had on my mind. I remember feeling worried about doing better and worried about the final. I also remember, however, leaving Olin 1, feeling calm. Feeling fulfilled. That same stressful morning, Dr. Klepach had brought in a special speaker, Scott Fried.  Scott shared a powerful message with us that I will always keep with me. He shared his story and the story of his friends. He told us, he told me, that I am enough. That I shouldn’t be too hard on myself because I am loved. I can be nervous and stressed, but at the end of the day, I am still lovable.  We are all lovable. As I listened to Scott, I also watched my classmates. We had worked so hard this Jan Plan and it made me me very proud of them and proud of myself. I am glad to have had this Jan Plan experience.

Download (PDF, 1.72MB)

Download (PDF, 1.26MB)

Download (PDF, 2.09MB)

Download (PDF, 1.41MB)

This JanPlan, I took A&P and guitar lessons. I have played piano for almost all of my life, but I always wanted to learn how to play the guitar. Even though A&P made my schedule pretty busy, I decided that I wanted to take lessons this JanPlan to give myself a break from the academic work. Twice a week I would go to Bixler after a three and a half hour lecture on the organ system of the day and my guitar teacher would start with the question: What did you learn today?

That was a pretty loaded question considering my brain was still recovering from the rapid-fire lectures on anatomy and then physiology and I was struggling to retain any of the information that I had learned that day. Then I remembered a cool fact that Dr. K mentioned in Olin 001, like how the surface area of the lungs is 35 times the surface area of the body. Or I remembered when Dr. K explained the etymology of some anatomical structure in Arey 307. My personal favorite was the background of the acetabulum, where the femur meets the pelvis and forms the hip joint. Acetabulum literally means “vinegar bowl” since the Romans used to use the acetabulum of cattle to hold their vinegar when eating.

Not only did those stories and fun facts help to liven up the at times never-ending lecture, they helped me to remember and make sense of all of the information that is packed into the month of January. I knew that I wanted to eventually go to medical school when I first came to Colby, but this class helped to reinforce that I find the human body fascinating and I want to dedicate years of my life studying it. The fun facts reminded me of how incredibly specified and complicated the human body is, and how difficult and rewarding it is to study its form and function.

This semester we learned a lot of material in a very short amount of time. We were introduced to the body structure and function in a modified fashion which still was a lot of information. However the speed at which we learned this material is very reflective of what medical school will be like which is in the near future for most of us in the class. Coming into the class what I knew about medical school was limited to what I looked up online and had heard from the premed advisor. So needless to say I knew next to nothing. Being exposed to a class that was designed to reflect a medical school class was an amazing opportunity and it taught me a lot about myself.

I was able to learn that I was going to need to be flexible to other learning styles if I wanted to be successful in the future. The same study strategies I had used my entire life were not going to work with the extensive amount of material thrown at me in graduate level classes. If I wanted to do well in the future I was going to need to learn to adapt and find multiple methods in order to succeed. Also I learned a lot about managing stress. Stress is an inevitable part of being a student especially in the higher levels of education. A lot is expected of you and sometimes it is hard to manage these expectations along with a healthy lifestyle. Dr. K’s style

This semester we learned a lot of material in a very short amount of time. We were introduced to the body structure and function in a modified fashion which still was a lot of information. However the speed at which we learned this material is very reflective of what medical school will be like which is in the near future for most of us in the class. Coming into the class what I knew about medical school was limited to what I looked up online and had heard from the premed advisor. So needless to say I knew next to nothing. Being exposed to a class that was designed to reflect a medical school class was an amazing opportunity and it taught me a lot about myself.

I was able to learn that I was going to need to be flexible to other learning styles if I wanted to be successful in the future. The same study strategies I had used my entire life were not going to work with the extensive amount of material thrown at me in graduate level classes. If I wanted to do well in the future I was going to need to learn to adapt and find multiple methods in order to succeed. Also I learned a lot about managing stress. Stress is an inevitable part of being a student especially in the higher levels of education. A lot is expected of you and sometimes it is hard to manage these expectations along with a healthy lifestyle. Dr. K’s planning of the class introduced me to a class where my metal state and wellbeing were taken into account. With this method I was able to find ways to manage outside of class stress as well as class related stress while also maintaining my grades. This definitely was not easy but I think I made some steps in the right direction. I will need to use these strategies in my future class and focus on finding other strategies as well if I want to reach a point where I am able to manage my stress levels and at the same time continue to do well in my classes.

As someone who plans to enter the medical field at some point in their future but has yet to decide on a specific direction, I cannot recommend this course highly enough. While one month is really only enough time to scratch the surface of human anatomy and physiology, the amount of material we covered and the value of the experience we had should not be understated. Dr. Klepach has managed to run this course in such a way that we are able to cover and retain a huge amount of information without feeling overburdened or losing interest. Activities like the BMI lab and heart dissection gave us the opportunity to engage with the material we were learning in lecture beyond simply looking at models. Presenting case studies from the New England Journal of Medicine in our grand rounds project, and touring Inland hospital while hearing about the experiences of medical proffessionals were also invaluable experiences for those of us seeking to enter the medical field. However, my recommendation of this class is not limited to only those interested in Biology. Some of the most import lessons I took away from this course were not directly related to anatomy and physiology.

From day one, dr. Klepach made it clear that in his mind success was not defined by a letter grade received at the end of the course, but rather in the ability to find a balance between work and healthy living. We were constantly reminded to manage our stress levels, exercise, maintain a balanced diet, and get enough sleep. While slightly unexpected at the beginning, it was reassuring to see a professor as interested in how our lives were going outside of academics as they were in our performance in the classroom. I know that the lesson that having a healthy lifestyle should not be sacrificed in the pursuit of academic success will stay with me throughout the rest of my education. Another lesson I know will stay with me for a long time came from our guest speaker Scott Fried. Mr. Fried’s speech contained many valuable lessons, but the one that resonated with me the most was about the importance of loving ourselves. The cornerstone of living a healthy life is being able to know that we are enough exactly as we are, regardless of academic performance, interests, or social life. In this way, anatomy and physiology offered me a valuable and enriching experience, both for my future aspirations and my personal life.

When I first started this class, I came in with no expectations. All I knew was that I was taking a biology class and that I was getting lab credit for it in a month. And as a result, I was not prepared for what the class was about to bring.

Listening to the first lecture, I was completely overwhelmed and in shock of the workload and the amount of effort I would have to put in for the class. Looking at the syllabus and the uploaded presentation slides, I was amazed that the professor expected us to know this enormous amount of information in one month. I felt like it was hopeless and I was stressed.

However, as I continued to take the class, Dr. Klepach kept putting focus and our attention to keeping a low stress level and taking care of ourselves as well as our academics. When I first heard this, I thought it was a ridiculous idea. I thought there was no way I could keep my stress low while trying to retain all this new information and stay up to my own academic standards.

A week and a few days in, I found out I was wrong.

I realized that there was need for me to be stressed and anxious all the time about my grades. I had the ability and capacity to learn and retain the required amount of information and I was doing well in the class. Dr. Klepach’s constant reminders to keep a low stress level and focus on our bodies finally made sense to me. I realized that there was no need to beat myself excessively over every quiz and every assignment and that I had the capacity to excel without being on the verge of an anxiety attack.

Through this class, I learned a valuable life lesson as well as anatomical names and physiological functions. Although dissecting a cow heart was fun and the new knowledge will come in handy, I will most be grateful about Dr. Klepach’s constant reminders. I hope that I can carry this mindset on with me into my future classes and take more of what he said about taking care about our bodies into action.

This course has undoubtedly enriched my knowledge of the human body, it’s so complex and so fascinating!  However, I believe the most important concept I learned is the importance of a healthy lifestyle.  It is so important that it should be used as a part of one’s measurement of overall success in one’s life.  The lifestyle log provided me with quantifiable evidence regarding my exercise habits and sleeping habits because data was recorded over the course and I could find trends, positive and negative, in my lifestyle and work to change the negative lifestyle choices.  This will help me to live a healthier lifestyle and ultimately find more overall success in life.

The most fun activity for me in this course was the dissection of fresh hearts.  I was very excited when I found out Dr. Klepach got fresh hearts for us instead of preserved ones because fresh hearts are much more soft, pliable, and colorful!  Cutting open the heart revealed the valves, papillary muscles, and chordae tendineae.  It was quite amazing to feel and see these very important cardiac structures that we had just learned about in the previous class.  I also felt better knowing the chordea tendineae are very strong and likely will not break in my heart!  This class has been a challenging JanPlan that has definitely helped me learn how to study anatomy in the future.  Despite the challenge, I had a great time in this class and would encourage anyone interested in the human body to take this course.  Thank you for a great JanPlan!

“He would gather her leaves and make them into crowns and play king of the forest”
The Giving Tree  by Shel Silverstein

At Colby, everyone here has told me that I would be fine. Every professor and friend explained that I was smart and I was worrying about nothing. They don’t know me. Eight years ago, I could not imagine going to any college. I see it as a very low point in my life when I had the lowest grades, no common sense, and the highest naiveté possible. I was a leaf constantly blown from the wind of others. The leaf represented a symbol of my idiocy and carelessness. I was a pushover who did not care about anything in the world. This recklessness eventually crushed my leaf-like existence and taught me a lesson. Ever since that day, I try not to become what I once was, playing a tiring and constant role of a smart and happy person.

Anatomy and Physiology was a very gruesome and fascinating class. It was an interconnecting web of body systems, diseases, and infections. Since I was pre-med, I thought A&P was the perfect test to see if I was on the right path and if I had what it took. Quickly, I found out that A&P was definitely not easy. I was distraught by unsatisfied scores, anxiety, and low confidence. While I was studying for A&P, my friends would be skiing, smiling, and sleeping. Despite A&P’s fascinating material, I couldn’t help think that I made a mistake. Everyone seemed to know what they were doing. Because many classmates grew anxious about lab tests and weekly quizzes, I could not help but absorb their anxieties. As I grew more anxious, my heart grew heavier riddled with doubt and despair.

My once stable fortress, that I built since eight years ago, began to tumble down. What if I was not smart enough to become a doctor? How could I continue to maintain the persona of academic success? I constantly fought with my emotions trying to maintain a happy and calm demeanor. After reflecting these questions, I realized these questions were irrelevant because I remembered the answers.

I can’t be who I am not. I am definitely not the most intelligent nor the pinnacle model of academic success. But, I have a heart. I care about my family, friends, future, and, most importantly, myself. What others have in brains, I will make up with my heart. I will study harder and smarter, smile more, and live the dream of healing others. My dream was never to become a doctor, but to heal the unnecessary wounds and pain of others.

Technically, I learned a bunch of anatomy and physiology in a short amount of time. There were so many body systems were intriguing and learning about the pathology of the body was amazing. More importantly, I remembered that I was enough. The grades, tests, and comparisons to other students did not matter to me anymore. I am thankful for the support of my family and my will to thrive rather than survive my life. I am not a soldier who needs an armor of steel rather I am a scholar eager to learn. I look forward to soaking more information and build my own prosperous kingdom/destiny. It will never be easy because I am lacking in many areas, but I will always remember my roots. To me, the leaf no longer represents regret. It is a lesson to learn so I can be the best I can be. Therefore, A&P was like a leaf to me that I will cherish, and I cannot wait until my next one. I will gather all the leaves I can and look forward to more.

I first heard Scott Fried speak at a freshman wellness seminar two years ago. I remember him clearly—engaging and demanding, passionate and free. His talk was amazing. Every seat in Ostrove was filled, people were sitting on the stairs, standing in the back. But when I heard him speak just two days ago for the second time, I felt something different. There was something about sitting just three rows away from him with only fifteen other people in the room. It didn’t feel like he was putting on a show. It felt like he was talking directly to me. It felt like he had already seen my palm, before I’d even been asked to show it.

At the end of the talk when Scott asked for questions, I had one. But I wasn’t sure the correct way to phrase it. And I wasn’t sure if he would be offended. And I wasn’t sure if the question undermined the whole point of his talk. So I said nothing. I’m sitting here, still wondering, if he ever contacted the man who gave him HIV, just to let him know exactly how he had changed the course of his life forever. I drew some serious parallels to my experiences with my boyfriend from freshman to sophomore year. He had done terrible, emotionally abusive, and manipulative things to me. Things that have affected my confidence and security in relationships ever since. And while it in no way compares to the gravity of Scott’s situation, I sometimes think about picking up the phone and letting him know just how much damage he had done to me. But would it give me any satisfaction? I’m thinking maybe not.

And when Scott said that it is easy to love those who are easy to love, but it is hardest to love those who are hard to love, including yourself, I was thinking about how hard I have made it to love myself. When Scott asked us to show him who we are with our palm, I thought to myself, how do I make my palm look feeble, damaged, afraid? But I know that I am not feeble. Although the secret in my pocket is that I am afraid, I do not confuse it with the fact that I am timid. I am scared to let someone care about me again and I am scared to be vulnerable. I have someone in my life now who is incredibly supportive and caring, yet, I am so scared to let him in. But I am trying. I am working, each and every day, to believe him when he compliments me, to believe that he will follow (he does) through on plans when we make them, to believe that I did not deserve what I experienced in the past. That lack of self-respect and self-confidence is so deeply ingrained in me that it takes immense conscious effort to not shut down and shut him out.

The secret in the front pocket of my jeans, is that I am scared—scared to let myself feel and scared to let myself go. But my palm—who I am—is neither feeble nor timid. Somewhere in my mind, I know what I have to offer, what my self-worth is. Maybe one day I’ll pick up the phone and let him know all that he has done to me, and how much better off I am without him, and how I have learned to love myself again. But then again, maybe I won’t.